Canadian Musician - March / April 2018 - Page 52

feel. Everyone is dealing with something I think we’re afraid to
talk about: loss and grief.
CM: I was somewhat stunned to hear [The Recording
Academy President] Neil Portnow suggest that women
need to “step up” if they want to win more Grammys. I
loved your responses on Instagram. How much of a strug-
gle has it been as a woman in the industry? Has it gotten
better?
CM: Ventriloquism is a collection of covers. What led to
this project?
MN: There was a lot going on in my life, to be honest. My father
passed away and my mother was very ill. I have a lot of original
music in me, but it was just energetically a very difficult time. I
listen to a lot of music and I thought maybe I’d just play some
songs I’d loved in my childhood. I thought, “Let’s make a covers
record and that would take some emotional pressure off of me.”
I was listening to “Waterfalls” the other day and I was like, “Wow,
this sounds so sad.” The guitar player’s father also passed away
during [recording]. There’s just something in the record you can
MN: It has, for me. I kind of live in my own universe. It’s really
okay because those are not the standards that I am trying to
live by. After meeting that guy, Neil Portnow, that was the day
I freed myself from ever wanting to participate in that system
again. There are all kinds of music. Everyone has something
going on in one region or another that speaks to the mind, the
body, and the heart, that is not in the zeitgeist. Once that epiph-
any happened I just felt so much better. I just have to trust and
believe that I will make enough money to feed and care for my
family. Music is a gift and I have to be mindful of that. I’m not
trying to woo the masses.
Sandy Horne is a founding
member of the Canadian band
Spoons, whose music helped
define the sound of pop and
new wave in the ‘80s.
www.spoonsmusic.com
CM: How did you come to play bass?
SH: I started playing acoustic guitar when I was about 13. The
action was so high it shredded my fingers. I took my babysitting
money and went for a few lessons just to get myself around the
guitar. Then I started going to the music store to get sheet music
for the most popular song that was being played. I’d learn the song
and go, ‘That’s the wrong chord!’ They were always wrong, those
sheets. I’d have to sit there for hours and hours fighting with the
songs, which was a great learning tool.
I knew I was going to play trumpet going into high school.
I took some lessons before, so I wasn’t lame going in. You always
have to be prepared! I acted like I didn’t know how to play, then
52 • C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N
when it came time for the first test, I wanted to get the best mark
I could. I played my scale up and down really fast. The teacher
was like “Okay, we need a first trumpet player for the junior band.”
I said okay.
Getting close to Christmas, he came to me and said, “We just
lost our third trumpet player in the senior band and I think you can
handle the part.” When I did that, it opened a new world because
Gord [Deppe of Spoons] was the first saxophone player and I sat
right beside him. He wouldn’t talk. He was super shy. I would look
at him and say, “I’m lost,” which I wasn’t. He would just point and I
would think, “I’m getting nowhere with this guy!”
Then there was a big competition coming up in another town
and the school had rented a big bus. I brought my guitar with me